Sam Paden and the UW-Whitewater baseball team has no interest in fairy tales.
Paden’s second homer of the game to lead of the bottom of the ninth inning capped a rally from a 10-5 deficit after six innings to defeat Birmingham-Southern (Alabama) College 11-10 in an elimination game of the NCAA Division III World Series on Sunday.
The victory puts the Warhawks into Monday’s game against undefeated Salve Regina, who defeated the Warhawks 2-0 on Saturday night in the double-elimination bracket round. The Warhawks will have to beat the Seahawks twice Monday to advance to the best-of-3 championship series.
“We just wanted to play (Monday),” Vodenlich said.
The Warhawks’ remaining pitching staff will be tested to get two victories Monday, but the team is just glad to have another day to play.
The same can’t be said for Birmingham-Southern. In March, the school announced it was closing effective Friday due to financial woes. The baseball team was the last survivor of the school, and appeared ready to fill a Cinderella-type script when it took a 10-5 against the Warhawks going into the bottom of the seventh inning.
The Warhawk bats and relief pitching then went to work to turn the fairy tale to the Warhawks’ favor.
Junior reliever Max Husebo came on after the Panthers had their ninth run of the game in the fifth inning. Huseboe allowed just one run over 3 2/3 innings to set up the Warhawks’ comeback.
Logan Eisenbarth came in to relieve Husboe with two outs in the seventh and did not allow a baserunner over the final 1 1/3 innings.
The Warhawks have used several complete games down the stretch, which minimized the number of innings the relief staff had to throw. Vodenlich said the final innings showed those relievers hadn’t forgotten how to get outs.
“It’s really rewarding for me because they performed well,” Vodenlich said. “Now they know we have confidence in them. Today, they stepped up like they had all year.”
Husboe and Eisenbarth allowed the Warhawks’ bats to erase the five-run deficit.
“We were still confident,” Paden said. “We know we have one of the best offenses in the country.”
Comeback begins in seventh
Adam Theis started the comeback with a two-run double with two outs in the seventh to trim the margin to three runs 10-7.
Dominick McVay, who finished 3of-4 with two runs scored and an RBI, led off the eighth inning with a double, and two groundouts put him on third. Matt Scolan doubled to score McVay. Junior first baseman Eli Frank followed with a shot over the left field fence to score Scolan and tie the game.
“We were confident the whole game,” said Frank, who has 13 homers this season. “It was just a matter of stringing hits together.”
Eisenbarth, who got the final out in eighth inning, retired the Panthers in order in the ninth, setting up Paden’s heroics.
Paden hit the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the ninth over the left field fence, prolonging the Warhawks’ season and ending the 160-year history of Birmingham-Southern College.
“It was a curveball,” Paden said of his walk-off homer. “I was looking curveball because I was watching him before I came up. He was popping that thing every other pitch.”
The Warhawks opened the scoring for the first time in World Series play. Paden and McVay connected on back-to-back homers with one out in the second. It was Paden’s fourth homer of the season and McVay’s ninth.
“I can’t remember that far back,” Paden said when asked after the game what pitch his first homer came on.
The 2 hour, 47-minute game Sunday was in stark contrast of the 1:44-contest the Warhawks played Saturday night.
Bennett Frazer walked after the back-to-back homers and went to second on a wild pitch. After a strikeout, Scolan, who was 4-for-5 with four RBI and three runs scored, came through with an RBI single to put the Warhawks up 3-0.
Good start for Warhawks
Warhawks starting pitcher Jack Hagen retired the first seven Panthers he faced. That extended the Warhawks pitching streak to 24 hitters in a row after Jack Hilker Jr. put down the final 17 Salve Regina College batters he faced in a 2-0 loss Saturday night.
The streak ended when Shane Nelson singled to center with one out in the third inning. With two outs, Eli Steadman homered to center to cut the Warhawks’ advantage to 3-2.
That seemed to solve Hagen for the Panthers. In the fourth, the first four Birmingham-Southern batters hit for the cycle with a homer, double, triple and single to score three runs. That outburst put the Panthers in front 5-3 and ended Hagen’s day.
Hagen, a freshman, entered the game with a 9-0 record and 2.60 ERA. He lasted just three innings and allowed five earned runs.
Cade Hanson came on with a runner on first and no outs. He limited the damage with a double play on a strike-out, throw-out on a steal attempt and a groundout to first.
Scolan’s homer ties game
The Warhawks continued the home-run derby in the bottom of the fourth when Adam Holland reached on a fielder’s choice and Scolan ripped a pitch onto the hill behind the rightfield fence to tie the game at 5-5.
The junior outfielder has 17 homers on the season.
Birmingham-Southern quickly regained control in the fifth inning. A catcher’s interference started the inning and after the Panthers batted around, they had a 9-5 lead.
The Panthers added another run in the sixth for a 10-5 lead.Paden appreciates souvenirThe Cinderella ride of Birmingham-Southern looked secure at that point. Warhawk home runs changed all of that. Paden’s second one made for a fairy tail-ending—for the Warhawks.
“It’s been a long four years for me here,” the senior outfielder said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better picture than that.”
The best came as he was walking out off the field. A youngster came up to Paden with the game-winning home run ball and asked if he would sign it.
Paden smiled.
“I might need to keep that,” Paden said, adding he promised the youngster a baseball Monday. “It was the first time I felt like a professional.”
See, there was a feel-good story to be told.
UW-WHITEWATER 11, BIRMINGHAM-SOUTHERN 10
Birm-South 003 241 000—10 14 1
UW-W 030 200 231 —11 16 1
(No outs when winning run scored)
Leading hitters—Steadman (BSC) 3x5, Dutton (BSC) 3x5, Webster (BSC) 3x5, Zito (BSC) 2x5; Scolan (WW) 4x5, Cootway (WW) 3x5, Hopper (WW) 2x5, Paden (WW), 2x5, McVay (WW) 3x4. 2B—Dutton (BSC), Hancock (BSC), Webster (BSC), Scolan (WW), Thies (WW), McVay (WW). 3B—Banks (BSC). HR—Steadman (BSC), Webster (BSC); Scolan (WW), Paden (WW) 2, McVay (WW), Frank (WW).
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)—BSC: Tyus (2-4-3-3-2-3), Mullins (3-4-2-2-0-2), McCown (1-5-3-3-0-1), Fields (L, 1/3-1-1-1-0-0); WW: Hagen (3-6-5-5-0-0), Hansen (1-3-4-2-0-1), Huseboe (3 2/3-5-1-1-0-2), Eisenbarth (W, 1 1/3-0-0-0-0-1).
SATURDAY
SALVE REGINA 2, UW-WHITEWATER 0
UW-Whitewater 000 000 000 —0 4 1
Salve Regina 020 000 00X —2 5 0
Leading hitters—None.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-k)—UWW: Hilker Jr. (L, 8-5-2-2-1-8); RSU: Mulligan (W, 9-4-0-0-3-4).
FRIDAY
UW-WHITEWATER 11, RANDOLPH-MACON 3
RM 300 000 000 — 3 7 3
UWW 361 001 00X — 11 9 1
Leading hitters — Bush (RM) 2x4, Scolan (UWW) 3x3, Thies (UWW) 2x4. 2B — Myers (RM). HR — Scolan (UWW), Hopper (UWW).
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-k) — RM: Bauers (L, 1 1/3-4-9-1-2-2), Stamm (3-3-1-1-0-2), Tomlin (3 2/3-2-1-1-0-4); UWW: Berendt (W, 7-6-3-3-3-6), Huseboe (2-1-0-0-0-4).
NCAA DIVISION III WORLD SERIES
At Eastlake, Ohio
(Two pods, double-elimination; pod winners play best-of-3 series to determine national champion)
Upper pod: Endicott (Massachusetts) College, University of Lynchburg (Virginia), Misericordia (Pennsylvania) University and Pomona-Pizer (California) College
Lower pod: Birmingham-Southern (Alabama) College, Randolph-Macon (Virginia) College, Salve Regina (Rhode Island) University, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
RESULTS FRIDAY
Game 1: (No. 5 seed) Misericordia University 6, (4) Pomona-Pitzer College 3
Game 2: (8) University of Lynchburg 7, (1) Endicott College 2
Game 3: (2) Salve Regina University 7, (7) Birmingham-Southern College 5
Game 4: (3) UW-Whitewater 11, (6) Randolph-Macon College 3
RESULTS SATURDAY
Game 5: Endicott College 7, Pomona-Pitzer College (37-15) 6, (Pomona-Pitzer eliminated)
Game 6: University of Lynchburg 6, Misericordia University 2
Game 7: Birmingham-Southern 9, Randolph-Macon College 7 (Randolph-Macon eliminated)
Game 8: Salve Regina University 2, UW-Whitewater 0
RESULTS SUNDAY
Game 9: Misericordia University 12, Endicott College 4 (Endicott College eliminated)
Game 10: UW-Whitewater 11, Birmingham Southern 10 (Birmingham-Southern eliminated)
GAMES MONDAY
Game 11: University of Lynchburg (38-15) vs. Misericordia University (40-10), 9 a.m.
Game 12: Salve Regina University (40-8) vs. UW-Whitewater (42-10), 12:15 p.m.
Game 13 (if necessary): Game 11 winner vs. Game 11 loser, 3:45 p.m.
Game 14 (if necessary): Game 12 loser vs. Game 12 winner, 3:45 or 7 p.m.
GAME WEDNESDAY
Championship Series, Game 1, 11 a.m.
GAME(S) THURSDAY
Championship Series, Game 2, 10 a.m.
Championship Series, Game 3 (if necessary), 45 minutes after Game 2
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